Satish Pillai, PhD

Biography

My research focuses on the relationship between HIV-1 evolution and pathogenesis. HIV-1 resides in several tissues within infected individuals, including the brain, blood, lung, spleen, lymph nodes, and genital tract. Each anatomic compartment is characterized by tissue-specific immunological surveillance, host cell characteristics, and antiretroviral drug penetration. Therefore, it is expected that HIV should evolve independently in each anatomic compartment, adapting to local immunologic, cellular, and pharmacokinetic characteristics. The goal of my research is to use a combination of computational and experimental tools to assess the degree of viral compartmentalization between tissues, and furthermore, to identify viral genetic characteristics that are specific to particular cell types, organs, and disease states.